Victor Rozek
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As I See It: In the Land of the Panel Beaters
March 16, 2015 Victor Rozek
… Read moreA somber-looking man stands in the front of the aisle facing a plane-load of passengers. His arms are crossed above his head and in each hand he holds a high-pressure spray can of poison. Overhead luggage racks are opened, and a brief announcement is made to justify what is about to happen. Two hundred seventy-two passengers descend into apprehensive silence. The man then walks up and down the aisles spraying toxic chemicals ostensibly to kill invasive pests. There are infants and seniors aboard the plane. Everyone is drenched.
Welcome to New Zealand.
It was barbaric, an uncivilized measure unworthy of
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As I See It: Asking The Big Question
February 2, 2015 Victor Rozek
… Read moreBefore she became an activist intent on changing the medical system, my wife’s doctor was so unhappy that she once thought about killing herself. And for doctors, that’s not unusual. Although it’s not widely publicized, physicians commit suicide at an alarming rate. By profession, they have the highest rate in the nation. Almost every physician has either thought of suicide, or knew a colleague who took his or her own life. For Dr. Pamela Wible, the source of their common misery was not hard to identify: Their purpose has been corrupted.
Most aspiring physicians enter the profession as idealists, intent
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As I See It: Partisans and Mercenaries
January 26, 2015 Victor Rozek
… Read moreLong ago in simpler times, I read a novel in which one character kills another with a credit card. I remember being dismayed that something so trivial as a credit card could be used as a weapon. It seemed there was no end to human ingenuity when it came to dispatching other human beings.
By the time computers became militarized, I was no longer dismayed. It was obvious that a tool capable of amplifying human capacities would not be limited to the perfection of human nature. But with the growth of the World Wide Web, something unforeseen happened that sent
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As I See It: The Path Forward
December 8, 2014 Victor Rozek
… Read moreThe world irrevocably changed on May 11, 1997, although at the time the event was reported more as a novelty than the opening salvo of a revolution. It was the day Grandmaster and World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov was beaten by IBM‘s Deep Blue. The day when the master/slave relationship between humans and computers flipped.
To be sure, there were moments of consternation as people briefly wondered how the implications of machine supremacy might translate in their own lives. But like the advent of the printing press, the full impact of the event would not be felt for many
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As I See It: Three Blind Vice
December 1, 2014 Victor Rozek
… Read more“Power attracts the worst and corrupts the best.” So said Edward Abbey, and although he wasn’t talking about Silicon Valley, the observation is no less true for that. As the technology sector increases its global dominance, the corruptive application of power is reflective of a changing ethic in the tech community. An ethic marred by success.
Leveraging the Disabled
I’ll bet you didn’t know that net neutrality hurts disabled people. Me neither. But, hey, if Verizon says so, it must be true. Right? Of what possible use would equal access be to a disabled person?
If you’re a disabled American
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As I See It: In Search of Digital Wisdom
November 17, 2014 Victor Rozek
… Read moreLogic suggests that natives always precede immigrants; and history records that the succession process frequently doesn’t work out well for the natives. At least until now. Technology, it seems, has turned succession on its head. According to Mark Prensky, when it comes to adapting to technology, not only did the immigrants precede the natives, but the natives are doing better than their precursors.
In 2001, Prensky, an educator by trade and a futurist by inclination, published an article introducing the concepts of “Digital Immigrants” and “Digital Natives.” In his model, the immigrants are the elders among us who remember a
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As I See It: The Author As Infant
November 3, 2014 Victor Rozek
… Read moreVladimir Putin is flexing. Testing air defenses here, coastal defenses there, reminding the world of Russia’s nuclear prowess, and implying his willingness to engage in World War III. And he’s just petulant enough to do it. Oorahsky! Meanwhile, China is bullying its helpless neighbors, gobbling up additional resources and territory to support its voracious appetites.
These are serious stories that deserve my attention and concern, but the Internet offers too many distractions, and the pull of entertainment is strong. I’m scrolling down Yahoo’s home page and in seconds my attention is highjacked by World Series coverage, college football highlights, lava
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As I See It: When Machines Excel
October 20, 2014 Victor Rozek
… Read moreEbola transmission, medical authorities assure us, occurs only through direct contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person or animal. And even then, the virus can only enter the body through a crack in the skin or by coming in contact with mucus membranes. While there is no reason to doubt the veracity of that assertion, I found it difficult to square with the surprising number of medical professionals who have contracted the disease even though clad in full protective attire. I wondered if the virus was being transmitted in some other way?
My suspicions were probably a result
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As I See It: Lip Service
October 6, 2014 Victor Rozek
… Read moreWhat if there was a bodily function that could help make or break your career? Sounds improbable since bodily functions are generally involuntary and occur outside our conscious awareness. But even though it is chemically induced in the brain, this particular function can also be initiated volitionally. And, when appropriately applied, it is socially welcome which, as we all know, cannot be said for all corporal processes. Yet for all its promise, it remains vastly undervalued.
In a tome on the subject Angus Trumble called it the “fabulously versatile contortion.” Indeed, with only subtle variances, it is capable of communicating
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As I See It: Eight Years From Now
September 22, 2014 Victor Rozek
… Read more“What’s next?” It’s a question best left to deities and fortunetellers because our current pace of change tends to pour havoc on the prediction business. These days stability, to the degree it exists at all, is of the high-wire variety, always vulnerable to the next gust of wind. Even the near future can be elusive since drastic changes often occur in modest timeframes. Someone observing the American scene in this century, for example, might well be surprised to find how quickly social media came to dominate the collective consciousness. Or, for that matter, that Janay Palmer actually married Ray Rice.